Brandon & Wolston Station

Brandon Station was the only station on the London &
Birmingham Railway's 11½ mile stretch of line between Rugby and Coventry
and was opened on 9th April 1838. There had been two stations built at this
location to serve this rural community, the first which had opened on 9th April
1838 and a second station which opened on 29th October 1879. According to
Powell-Hendry and Preston-Hendry in the book 'An Illustrated Survey of
Selected LMS Stations Layouts and Illustrations Volume One' the second
station was erected on an adjacent site to the original station and renamed as
Brandon & Wolston Station. It was 89 miles 72 yards from Euston station, a
fact lately recorded by Network Rail on their information board sited at the
old station's entrance. The station was equipped on the up line with a small
goods yard and shed serviced by one siding whilst on the down line a single
siding was installed. Up to 1903 the two sidings were connected by two wagon
turntables and a section of track running at 90º to the main line. The
signal cabin is thought to date from 1879 when the second station opened and
was retained when the turntables were removed. It was finally closed during the
weekend of 12th to 14th September 1964 when stage one of Rugby Power Box was
commissioned. Until the up siding was finally removed, the signal cabin was
replaced by a ground frame.

Access to the station was via Brandon Lane which joined Main
Street, itself joining the two villages of Brandon and Wolston which gave the
station its name. Although located on a very busy main line the service
provided for Brandon & Wolston was little more than that serving branch
lines. In 1895 there were five stopping trains provided each day whereas there
were three times as many for the stations west of Coventry. Even by the end of
the Edwardian period there were only some eight or nine trains per day. This
situation improved during ownership under the LMS and by 1938 there
approximately a dozen trains calling at the station. The station lost traffic
very quickly after the Second World War not being able compete with the
competition from buses which were more frequent and convenient. Brandon &
Wolston eventually closed to passengers on 12th September 1960. The Handbook of
Railway Stations records that the station was accessible to both LNWR and MR
clients, with the former having the full range of services available. These are
recorded as: Goods traffic; Passenger and Parcels traffic; Furniture Vans,
Carriages, Portable Engines, and Machines on Wheels; Live Stock; Horse boxes
and Prize Cattle Vans; Carriages by Passenger Trains. A 3 ton crane was
available at the goods yard.